YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: Saturday the 22nd

STATE: Tennessee

COUNTY: Loudon County

LOCATION DETAILS: From 165 take a right to Indian Boundary campground take the first right before you get to the campground go about four miles on the gravel road,its the first pull off on the right follow the trail for about a mile or so my camp was on the left

NEAREST TOWN: Tellico Plains

NEAREST ROAD: 165-Cherohala Skyway

OBSERVED: Earlier this year i was camping by myself in the Citico Creek area. Around Ten oclock P.M. i was in my hammock (i dont use a tent,i go lightweight)when i heard something,i guess you could say running down a steep hill across the trail from me.At first i thought it was a deer or some other animal but it stopped and started moving parallel with the trail. So i get up and get my fire going again to try and spook what ever it was off. Whatever was moving (ill just say IT from now on)went down about fifty yards and crossed the trail over to my side. I was kind of freaking out because it was so overgrown with vegatation that a flashlight was almost useless.I could hear IT cross back over the trail and move up the hill and come back the way IT came. It went past my camp about fifty yards or so and crossed the trail this time above where i was.About this time i figured out that it wasnt an animal so i was freaking out a little.This went on for about four or five hours off and on.When the sun came up i got out of there.I told some friends about what happened they thought it was probably a deer or maybe a dog but it sounded way to heavy for either of those.I done some research and came across your sight and kind of got it out of my system you could say but i saw where you guys had a expedition to North Carolina and saw some articles where people had encounters around the N.C. and T.N. border well thats where i was.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just myself

OTHER STORIES: Just what ive read here and on other sights

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Started around Ten and went on till about Two or Three.The weather was clear and warm there wasnt alot of Moonlight

ENVIRONMENT: Heavily overgrown,thick forest with a large river

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness at length. This is a gentleman that grew up spending most of his free time in the outdoors, canoes and camps frequently, and has camped often in this particular area.

I found him to be very down to earth, and very knowledgeable about Tennessee wildlife. He has had occasion to encounter deer, bear and wild hogs on other camping trips and is very certain that this was not what he encountered in this instance. He is a very credible witness. He indicated to me that prior to this incident he was a total non-believer.

The Citico Creek Wilderness area is a rugged and remote area in southeast Tennessee, close to the North Carolina border, and just southwest of the Great Smoky Mountains.

On the night in question he was camping in an area where there was a river to the left of the trail and a steep grade (about 40 degrees) covered with heavy undergrowth to the right of the trail. He was camping on the riverside and this animal came down the grade on the right of the trail. There was somewhat of a drought in the area at that time so the river was down and not as noisy as normal. When he indicated that he figured out that whatever it was circling his camp was not an animal, he meant it was not any animal that he had ever encountered or knew of.

The witness has also heard wood knocking on other camping trips into this area, but did not think anything about it until he had this encounter and started doing some research. He was back camping in this area in June of this year, and said that as he was going in he met an old man coming out who stopped him and asked, "Aren't you afraid of the Black Mountain Monster?", which he found to be very intriguing.

He also has a friend who camped in the same area and when he got up to relieve himself around 2am saw something 'large' standing upright in the trail. It shook him up enough that this friend will no longer go camping there and will not speak about the incident.